Project Number: 1931-21000-016-06
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 14, 2006
End Date: Aug 31, 2008

Objective:
The objective of this research is to produce a 40,000 + unigene Malus oligo microarray to be used for functional genomic studies in the Rosaceae.

Approach:
ARS will collaborate with the University of Illinois to produce an apple oligo microarray. The University of Illinois will conduct a bioinformatic analysis of their collection of apple expressed-sequence tags (ESTs) to produce a 40,000 + unigene set. ARS will provide technical expertise in evaluating the design of the microarray and supply funds to partially support the synthesis of an oligo set to be used in the microarray and the production of an initial set of microarray slides. ARS and the University of Illinois will collaborate on the evaluation of the quality of the microarray and in the establishment of protocols for its use by other genomic researchers.